BEYOND 3A: BloodRed and ScaleBlack

The Eighteenth Feather: She Was a Sweetheart, Her Name Was Meggie

Another day went by, and all seemed somewhat normal. Dennis returned to his daily life with some difficulty, however, since he was right-handed. After school was done for the day, his friend asked whether or not he'd be showing up to baseball practice, but was told that couldn't go, even if he wanted to because he was given detention for not doing yesterday's homework, which couldn't be helped.

Later, he found himself in the detention room along with one other girl and no one else. He sat next to her and tried to distract himself from the monotonous wait by doing random multiplication problems on a sheet of paper. Eight times eight? Sixty four. Seven times eleven? Seventy seven. Sixteen times sixteen? He didn't know. He kept racking his brain for a minute or two before the girl next to him whispered: "...Two hundred and fifty six..."

Dennis: "What?"

Suddenly, the teacher watching over them ordered them to stop talking. An expression of shame washed over her face as she lowered her head, afraid of the adult in the room. Dennis, however, wasn't having any of it. He picked a small booger from his nose and flicked it with Malacoda's energy at the teacher's head, knocking him out instantly. The girl squeaked from being startled and the boy sighed and said: "Welp, that takes care of that."

The girl freaked out, naturally: "A-Ah! W-why did you do that?! We're gonna be in so much trouble!"

Dennis: "Before that, what's your name?"

The girl: "M-Meggie."

Dennis: "Listen up, Meggie, when they ask you about this, just tell them I did it."

Meggie: "But won't you get suspended for assaulting a teacher?"

Dennis: "Eh, maybe. But my granddad told me that a real man never hides from the consequences of his actions."

Meggie: "W-wow, your grandpa must be really cool."

Dennis: "Totally. Anyway, what did you say sixteen times sixteen was?"

Meggie: "Oh, it was uh... Two hundred and fifty six."

Dennis: "Are you a genius or what?"

Meggie: "...I guess so..."

Dennis: "How come you're in detention then? Did you kick the teacher out and teach the class by yourself instead?"

Meggie: "No no no, I just... I thought I saw a rat under my table, so I... was scared and squeaked like one really loudly."

Dennis: "... Really?"

Meggie: "Yes, really."

Dennis: "Kids beat the crap of other kids to warrant this kind of punishment, and all you did was shriek?"

Meggie: "It's... I know, it's embarrassing."

Dennis: "Embarrassing? The only thing embarrassing here is the system this school runs on, I swear!"

Meggie: "Hehe... Yeah."

Dennis: "..."

Meggie: "..."

Dennis: "Wanna get outta here?"

Meggie: "N-no, things will get even worse if we do that."

Dennis: "Hm, true, true. But please, consider the following."

He then packed his stuff, Positioned the teacher to make it seem like he fell asleep on his chair, and jumped through an open window. He told the speechless Meggie: "Well? Are you coming or what?"

Meggie: "I-I dunno..."

Dennis: "Fine, you do you. I'm going home."

As Dennis walked away, Meggie worked up the courage to act a little rebellious and hopped out of the classroom.

While they were walking away from the school, Meggie asked him: "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Dennis: "Shoot."

Meggie: "Are you in the baseball club?"

Dennis: "Yeah, I played in the most recent game, too."

Meggie: "I asked because I felt like I recognised you somewhere."

"Of course! I do leave that impression on people." he said with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Meggie: "I know this is none of my business, but... Are you going to practise now?"

Dennis: "No, I won't be playing for a while. My hand was cut off yesterday and I can't move it."

Meggie: "Oh, you too?"

Dennis: "Thankfully, I got it stitch- wait, what do you mean 'you too'?"

Meggie: "You got caught in the crossfire of a Shifter fight, right?"

Dennis: "Yeah, that's what I'm assuming, since it was so abrupt."

Meggie: "My hand wasn't cut off, but I was impaled by a stray spike in the stomach. Now I can't eat solid food."

Dennis: "Oooh, I'm sorry to hear that. But on the bright side, you can still drink apple juice! Objectively the best drink on earth, in my one hundred percent correct opinion."

Meggie: "If you say so..."

Dennis: "Anyway, Where will you go now? I'm going home."

Meggie: "I'll be going home, too. My aunt is probably worried about me since I don't usually get hauled off to detention."

Dennis: "Your aunt, huh? If she'll be flipping out, then how wild will your parents get then?"

Meggie: "Not very, if I had to guess. Since they're not very alive right now..."

Dennis thought to himself: "Damn it! Not again! Why do I keep talking to people with dead parents! AAAGH, This is so awkward now! Recover! Recover now, damn me!"

Meggie continued: "It was the same fight that penetrated my stomach that took them away, it wasn't pretty either..."

Dennis: "LOOK! IT'S A UFO!"

Meggie: "WHERE?!"

Having abruptly derailed the conversation in a panic, He said: "Whoops, that was just a Burger Bing sign."

Meggie: "Oh... And I was in the middle of talking, too..."

Dennis: "C'mon! Let's not think about depressing things! How about this, here's an apple juice box. I wasn't feeling hungry during the break, so I just saved it. You can have it if it'll make you feel better."

Meggie: "Geez, you didn't have to..."

Dennis: "Ehhh, don't worry about it. My granddad once told me that what makes a man a real man is how supportive he can be."

Meggie: "Your grandpa taught you a lot of things, right?"

Dennis: "Yeah, that guy taught me everything I know except for dodging taxes. He was really good at it, a missed opportunity, I think."

Meggie: "Uhhh..."

Dennis: Don't tell anyone about that, though."

Meggie: "I won't."

Dennis: "Epic. Do you live far from here?"

Meggie: "Yes, it's a bit of a walk, so I usually take the bus. That's out of the picture though."

Dennis: "Do you mind if I walk you there? I've got plenty of time to spare."

Meggie: "N-no, no, you really don't have to."

Dennis: "But these streets are pretty dangerous. Who knows when some demon pops up out of nowhere and eats your head?"

Meggie: "Hehe, and what are you going to do about it if it happens? You'll offer them juice?"

Dennis: "If I'm fighting the juice devil, maybe!"

Meggie: "Hehehe, okay, do what you want."

Seventeenth Feather:

Plucked